Andrew Garfield takes a break from acting

Fresh off his second Oscar nomination — Best Actor for tick, tick, Boom!… — Variety has reported that British actor Andrew Garfield has decided to take a break from acting. If you consider how hard Garfield has been working for the past few years, including working through a pandemic, this decision doesn’t really come as a surprise, more like a disappointment for those who are fans of his work. Last year, he starred in Boom and co-starred alongside eventual Best Actress winner Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. In addition, he will soon star alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones in FX’s limited series, Under the Banner of Heaven.

“I’m going to rest for a little bit,” said Garfield, who is humble. “I need to just be a bit ordinary for a while.” Of course, an A-list, Oscar-nominated star like himself may never truly be “ordinary,” but it is easy to see what he means. In addition to Tammy Faye and his Golden Globe-winning performance in Boom, he made an appearance alongside fellow Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland in last December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.

What’s Next for Andrew Garfield

Banner of Heaven is available to stream on Hulu starting today and is a series that combines murder and religion. Understandably so, Garfield ensured that he, the cast, and crew kept “taking care of themselves” while filming via game nights, exercising and enjoying nature, and eating “good food.”

So, what’s next for the 38-year-old actor? Garfield had previously been cast in a limited series adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, alongside such heavyweights as Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes, but this project was unfortunately shelved.

Today, Garfield clarified his acting hiatus by ensuring everyone is not retiring from acting; rather, he said he is taking “a holiday.” It sounds like Garfield is merely giving himself some well-deserved and well-earned rest. It’s understandable that people on social would speculate about his career, seeing that a couple of other prominent actors have recently come forward about their respective retirements.

Last month, Bruce Willis’ family announced that would be “stepping away” from his career due to an Aphasia diagnosis. Then, just days later, Jim Carrey said that he’d be retiring from acting and that he really enjoys his “quiet life.” To be sure, Garfield is a long way from retirement.